I saw TFA last night, and I thought it was pretty good. Definitely far better than the prequels, although not as great as the original trilogy. But I like how Abrams took elements from the OT and made them into something new, which to be fair, what what the first Star Wars movie did back in '77.
Bottom line, can’t wait for Episode VIII to come out
The fact that this is your opinion of the film is by far the biggest plot twist of the film. 😛 I’m glad you enjoyed it.
And I agree that Carrie wasn’t really used for much in the film. But I think the need to use her (let’s be honest, JJ didn’t have a choice), was probably a burden on the production. She doesn’t act anymore. She was never given more than a line at a time. There was one line that basically had a jump cut in the middle of it to stitch together the parts she did a bit better. I’m not judging her for this, it’s Star Wars mania and nostalgia that had her back. And I was happy to see her. But there’s no way around the fact that she was a weak link, acting wise. The way that they utilized her was simply damage control.